Go in and possess the land

 Christ in all the scriptures

Go in and possess the land   Deuteronomy 9

As we continue our studies in Deuteronomy, I am reminded of the comments of Dr Henrietta Mears in her book "What the bible is all about".  She wrote:

"You will come to appreciate the full force and magnetic beauty of Deuteronomy only as you read its pages....Nothing in literature matches the majesty of its eloquence.  Nothing in the O/T has any more powerful appeal for the spiritual life.  No book in all the word of God pictures better the life that is lived according to God's will, and the blessings showered upon the soul who comes into the richness and fulness of spiritual living along the rugged pathway of simple obedience...If you want a taste of heaven on earth, become familiar with Deuteronomy".

It was from Deuteronomy Jesus cited three times to ward off the temptation of the devil.  In the extremity of His weakness, He triumphed, and dismissed the tempter, who had brought down the entire race,   He went by the Spirit into the wilderness, and He returned unscathed in the power of the Spirit to destroy the works of the devil.  His victory can be our victory as we resist the devil in our day.  It is from Deuteronomy there are more quotations in the N/T than from any other book (60 references and 44 direct quotations).  The importance of this book cannot be over emphasised.

"Hear, O Israel: Thou art to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fenced up to heaven"-Deut. 9v1

The day had come; Israel must occupy the good land the Lord had given them.  Faith in God is not for the fainthearted.  They faced an enemy much stronger and more powerful than themselves.

"...a people great and tall, the children of the Anakims (giants)  whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand before the children of Anak!"

All this finds its counterpart in Paul's letter to Ephesians.  We could consider chapters1-3 as "the land is before you"; chapters 4-6, "go in and possess it".  In chapter 6v12 the enemy, far greater than us, is declared, "against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high (heavenly) places".  We cannot of ourselves overcome, only in the strength of the Lord.  In chapter 1v21 of the same epistle we find that Christ is ascended to the highest place in the heavens, "far above all principality, and power, and might, and every name that is named, not only in this world but in that which is to come!"  It is in His strength alone we overcome, and so Paul writes, "Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might"-Ephesians 6v10.  Believers are facing many enemies in their journey of faith in this world.  Israel's enemies were human and visible, our enemies are spiritual and invisible.

Consider the language of the chapter:

"The Lord thy God...He shall bring them down before thy face...Deut. 9v3

"Not for thy righteousness or for the uprightness of thine heart...the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee..." Deut. 9v5

"Remember and forget not...ye have been rebellious against the Lord..." Deut. 9v7

"I prayed therefore unto the Lord, and said, O Lord God destroy not thy people and thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed through thy greatness, which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand"-Deut. 9v26

The message is clear:  Only in the Lord shall we progress and prevail: we will overcome not for any good in us, but for the grace of our God: we must ever remember our frailty and tendency to succumb to our fallen nature, and develop humility before our God (triumphalism, which is a perversion of true faith, and is ever present today, is not of God): we are dependent on One interceding for us on high just as Moses did for Israel.

Crossing Jordan does not symbolise death, as hymnology would often suggest; it is death to self, self-interest, and self reliance.  The land is not heaven, for in it there are conflicts, (there are none in heaven).  Rather the land speaks of heaven upon earth, the believer entering into the many blessings God has provided for spiritual life in the here and now.

Sooner, rather than later in our Christian life, we shall encounter conflicts which we never knew in natural life.  There is the enemy within, the old nature conflicting with the things of God (Galatians 5); there is the delusive world system, all around us, calling us to succumb to ungodly ways (1st John 2); there is the vast demonic spirit world above us, attempting to rob us of spiritual blessings (Ephesians 6 and 1st Peter 5v8).  These are very real and powerful forces against us.  Of ourselves we are incapable of resisting them.  They are the formidable enemies of the faithful.  In Christ alone we overcome, in spiritual terms we "possess the land".  We do this by humbly submitting to God, and allowing Him to strengthen us.   As the apostle James put it, "God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.  Submit yourselves therefore to God.  Resist the devil and he will flee from you"-James 4v6/7. 

Israel wandered 40 years outside of the blessings of the land.  How long have we been wandering rather than possessing and overcoming?  It is a very pertinent question for spiritual life today.